Example embodiments relate to a multimedia information appliance including a camera unit, an image display unit, and a multi-port memory, and particularly, to a multimedia information appliance including a camera unit, an image display unit, and a multi-port memory, which can reduce a total number of components of the multimedia information appliance and improve performance.
As the mobile communication terminals become increasingly multi-functional, secondary functions such as camera and multimedia playback, along with an improved wireless communication function are being added to mobile communication terminals. The application, features and functionality of the camera are increasingly expanding through improvements in display screen of a mobile communication terminal and high-speed communication. As a result, a number of mobile communication terminals equipped with cameras is steadily increasing, and the performance (e.g., number of pixel) of the camera modules mounted in the mobile communication modules are steadily improving.
Hereinafter, an internal configuration of a conventional camera unit including a camera module and an application processor in a multimedia terminal is described with reference to FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional camera unit 50 includes a lens 10, an image sensor 20 that senses optical signals of an image photographed by a camera and converts the optical signals into electrical signals and outputs the electrical signals, an Image Signal Processor (ISP) 30 that converts the electrical signals output from the image sensor 20 into image signals, and an application processor 40 that receives the image signals from the ISP 30 and processes the image signals.
The camera unit additionally includes a frame memory 31 that stores various parameters necessary to control data processed in the ISP 30 and the image sensor 20 and a frame memory 41 that stores data processed in the application processor 40. Accordingly, the conventional camera unit 10 and a multimedia information appliance including the camera unit 10 include two (or more) frame memories 31 and 41.